


Fall in to the Sky

by CinnamonrollStark



Series: The Beginning is the End is the Beginning [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-27 01:48:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17757476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CinnamonrollStark/pseuds/CinnamonrollStark
Summary: Days after the tragic events of the Dusting, Tony Stark knows his end is coming. Fearing the unknown, he sends a brief parting message to Pepper, who receives it two months too late.Desperate to save him, Pepper, Rhodey, and Banner embark on an intergalactic rescue mission.What they do not know will be the undoing of them all.





	1. Hope/Less

**Author's Note:**

> Hey beautiful people!  
> This is my first fic on Ao3 so I am open to constructing criticism. However, as with anything, I will not tolerate any hate. Please enjoy the story and message/ask me anything on my tumblr, WhumpertDowneyJr!  
> Love love love!

Space

"I have a spectacularly bad idea."

Mere moments had passed since the helmet whirred to sleep, bright eyes, black again. An ocean of stars was at high tide, crashing and peeling with thick wind against the ship's main window. Tony glanced up at the waving galaxy, splotches of violet and hot pink hues decorating the empty black space, his fingers absent-mindedly drumming against the bridge of the helmet's nose. 

Nebula, perched in a particularly humerous way on the sturdy edge of a bulky mechanical box, looked at him lazily. "Care to elaborate?" She seemed entirely uninterested. Apparently, Stark did not have the time, as he jolted up, an idea sparking somewhere in the back of his mind. For several days, the man had been sullen, emotional. All of that wiped away, a dry-erase man, completely clean of complex bereavement. For a moment, she thought she caught a smile at the corners of his lips.

Stark's excitement was contagious, and Nebula perked up. "Oh, oh oh. Oh, I've got an idea." He grinned, and practically ran to the back of the ship. "A fan-fucking-tastic idea." Nebula's heart quickened. 

"As in, an idea that could save us?" Her budding joy surprised her- after all, there wasn't much to live for. She should be just as miserable as she always was. But there was hope, some, solid version of it she hadn't felt many times before in her life. 

"Maybe, maybe," Tony mumbled excitedly from the next room. His head popped out from behind a wall. "Help me look for some stuff, some, you know." 

"I'm not sure I do." She laughed. Laughter- how odd. What an unfamiliar feeling. "Just- oh, just come in here and I'll show you."

■●■

Two Months Later - Earth

Twelve "funerals" in the past week. Pepper wasn't even entirely familiar with each person, wasn't always the closest of friends. Sometimes they were just acquaintances of hers, sometimes old friends of Tony's. Some, not so old.

May Parker had held out for a month and a half before she finally resigned to the idea that Peter could even possibly be gone. Pepper had held her hand, cried with her. Funerals for the elderly, for the sick, those were different. Painful, yes. But different. Expected. Funerals for sixteen year olds were dark and morbid; hoards of young teenagers weeping in rows and rows of pews. Sixteen year olds weren't supposed to die.

Pepper was still holding out hope. Half of the world's population had disintegrated, and she'd seen it happen right in front of her. But a select few people had never been located, and no evidence of a dusting had been found. Faces, she'd seen on the news. Tony, Peter, T'Challa and that... wizard. Strange. The last person she'd seen with Tony. Pepper harbored a special kind of anger for Strange. He's the one who stole Tony away. He was the reason for his absence. 

Bodies, never found. Recently, DNA testing had been made readily available to the public for families to test samples of the dust left in the homes, in the streets. An effort to bring peace to many who never got to say goodbye. But not to Pepper. No, because Tony was alive. She was sure of it. 

No one envied her hope, especially not the rest of the Avengers (those who remained.) And there was a grave, a monument for each respective hero who had been dusted or killed during the War. Billboards plastered with their faces in memory. And while she appreciated the outpouring of love from those that idolized him, Pepper found Tony's billboard somewhat ridiculous. Bold numbers, a date of death for a man who was clearly still alive. Heroes didn't die. They couldn't. 

Not all days were easy, and today was not an exception. Everything had been going terribly wrong today; the world, since the Dusting, was entirely new and all wrong. The sky was dark with ash, and it was incredibly cold. One step outside would reveal a chaotic masterpiece of agony and anger. Stores were robbed. Buildings were vandalized. Memorials were graffitied upon. It had only been two months, but the world had aged years.

Bundled in layers, Pepper exited the building and stood, letting a cold breeze wash over her exposed cheeks and nose. Her skin pricked red in the freezing air, and she watched her breath steam through her scarf, a modern day dragon of a woman. The thought occured to her that being a dragon would be quite helpful at a time like this. Open your mouth, she thought, and breathe fire. Flap your wings and fly away. 

A pop of colorful graffiti met her gaze from across the street: a pink and indigo mural of Tony, the words "I am Iron Man." Plastared across his chest. And then, the date of the dusting. A universal death date. Everyone knew someone who died that day.

A smile brushed across her face and she decided she was going to paint over those meaningless numbers. Tony was coming back. Of course he was.

°°°

Later.

Pepper stroked a deep black paint over the smooth, brick wall. No death. No more numbers. Satisfied with her work, she picked up the small can of paint and the stained brush and made her way back inside.

She was met with screams. Howls of an alarm stopped her in her tracks. No one had broken in- she had only been gone for a half hour, across the street. She would have noticed someone breaking into the apartment. Since Tony's disappearance, Pepper had felt uncomfortable in their big house all alone, so she had been renting a place in upstate New York. It was, perhaps, the safest building in the city, and she hadn't yet experienced any form of roberry. For that, she was lucky, as the world was lawless and immoral after the war.

As she ran to her apartment, several people peeked out from their apartments, fearful of the noise. The sound of the alarm became louder as she neared her apartment. With a bit of hesitation, she entered.

It was the goddamn suit. One of the three things of Tony's she'd brought with her, to keep her company. And the alarm wasn't exactly that, no, it was an incoming message. F.R.I.D.AY.'s voice rang out clear and loud in the small space. 

"INCOMING MESSAGE FROM TONY STARK." Repeated at a high frequency from the helmet of the suit. Pepper's heart stopped with excitement. She closed the door behind her and shakily walked towards the suit. Her palms softly cupped the sides of the helmet as she picked it up. It slid of the rest of the suit with ease, and she placed it snugly over her head.

The helmet tightened over her ears and the alarm stopped. Pepper smiled with tears in her eyes as she heard Tony's voice for the first time in two months.

■●■

Space - two months ago

He was hopeful, too. Stark, his mind at work, sparks flying from a torch. His ability to make something out of nothing astounded Nebula. Her own hand, clutched around a wrench, twisted at his command.

They were getting out of here.


	2. Of Rescues and Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Banner paused at the preposterous suggestion. There simply wasn't enough time, and Tony would've known that.  
> Yet, something in the fierce gleam in Pepper's eyes told him it was possible. That it has to be. 
> 
> "Do we have a deal?" She asked, bluntly, assuredly. 
> 
> "I'll do it," offered Rhodey from the back of the table. Banner composed his thoughts and slowly nodded.
> 
> "I'm in."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo! Two posts in one day? Probably wont be a daily thing but I'm giddy at the prospect of furthering the story!

**Earth - present day**

Over the past two months, many emotions had ingrained themselves in her memory. But this- so incredibly new and wonderous. Elation bubbled in Pepper's veins, pockets of golden joy soaring through her heart and out through her body. As Tony's pale, weak body dispersed and disintegrated (a heavy memory, a projection dusted away) Peper felt her arms instinctively reach out for nothing if not to catch the pieces of Tony as they fell away. 

Tony was gone, but in a whole new sense he was back, he was alive. He was somewhere, whole, alive. Who's to say he was the only one? _We ran out of food and water. We._ As in, Tony wasn't alone. As in,

_Oh God._ Should she tell May? For all they knew, Peter could be with him and- no. No,  because if he wasn't, it would be like losing him all over again. She couldn't do that to the woman. But Tony, oh, her Tony was alive. Believing he survived was one thing, but this, this was irrefutable proof. She had to tell someone, anyone. 

°°°

Although she hadn't called, Rhodey seemed to be expecting her. Few Avengers remained at the compound since the dusting. Perhaps it was a painful memory, a sickening nostalgia that no one asked for. Or maybe the Avengers had dispanded. She didn't keep up with the group. She couldn't. Everyone had already accepted Tony's death, his loss. They mourned. Pepper didn't want to surround herself with that kind of energy. Rhodey, Banner, Thor, and some... racoon...  were the only ones to remain. Rogers had gone off with Nat on some, separate mission and Clint had gone off the map. Thor and the raccoon were sullen and quiet and drifted from the group from time to time. Rhodey, while not a true avenger, had stepped up, tried his best to lead the way out of the darkness. 

He looked exhausted, more exhausted than Tony, even. He wore a navy blue v-neck and jeans, still attached at the hip with that metal contraption that helped him walk. He was leaning against the side of the building when she approached.

"I'm sorry, I smell like Metro. Did you-"

"I got a message from him," Rhodey interrupted, the blunt edges of his voice worn down with fatigue and emotion. "Tony's alive, Pepper. He's alive." His hands shook as he raised them, held the sides of his head in his hands. 

"I know." She said, pulling him into a hug. "I know," Pepper muffled against his chest. She could hear his heart beating rhythmically, fast and unruly. She quickly composed herself and pulled away.

"Rhodey, we've got to help him. We have to, we owe him that." 

Rhodey nodded solemnly. Something in his red-rimmed eyes changed, darkened.

"Don't give me that look."

"Pepper-"

"I said don't. Tony - is - alive. Exactly like I told all of you he would be.  We're not letting him just die, James. We're not."

The man gripped the bridge of his nose and sighed, rough and deep and broken.

"He only has a day, Pepper. Did he tell you that?"

She readjusted and pretended not to deflate. "He did. He has a day, Rhodey, which means he's alive, which means we can save him." 

°°°

Thor and the Racoon- Rocket, Rhodey had informed her- we're off again on some far away mission. The only one at the compound besides Rhodey was Banner, who was already working on some sciencey thing in the lab. 

"He's trying to track the signal," Rhodey added as they walked through the entryway. "He got a message just like us. Come on." He lead her to the lab, tired but motivated in his step. 

Bruce was working with the transmission front Tony, his message. It played to full and restarted again as Bruce continued to track the place and timestamp.

"Bruce," Pepper chimed as she entered the lab. "Bruce, he's alive! What did I tell you? He's alive!" Happy news, some of the best she'd gotten of late- but Bruce seemed none the better for it. He was as focused on his work as ever. 

"Hey Pepper," he mumbled, distracted by his work. 

"Don't mind him, right now. He's just doing the best he can to- you know. He's trying." 

Pepper took in the sight, the blue and green apparition of Tony. "I can see that. Thank you, Bruce. But I think we need to do something more physical. We have to get him. We have to save him." 

That caught his attention.

"Pep... you know it's not that simple." He said, looking away from his work for the first time since she'd arrived. Rhodey nodded in the corner.

"Why can't it be?" She argued, coming out sharper than she'd meant it to.

"We want to save him as much as you do. But we haven't even located where the signal is coming from yet." 

"Do it faster then! He doesn't have long!" Bruce shot her a look of sympathy and something else- frustration. Pepper felt part of herself sink. "And he hasn't eaten in what, four days? We don't have time for this. He has a suit with him, doesn't he? Couldn't we track that?" She ran a hand over her flyaways and bit the insides of her cheeks.

"I can't lose him, not like this. We have to try. We have to go out there and look for him, regardless of the cost. And you know he would do the same for you."

A wavering silence settled over them. Pepper couldn't stand it, and was the first to break it. "I got his message two hours ago. Two hours. We have, based on what he said, twenty-two hours left to save him. So we find a ship- we can find a ship, can't we? And we track the suit. And we save him." 

Banner paused at the preposterous suggestion. There simply wasn't enough time, and Tony would've known that. Yet, something in the fierce gleam in Pepper's eyes told him it was possible. That it has to be.

"Do we have a deal?" She asked, bluntly, assuredly. "

I'll do it," offered Rhodey from the back of the table. Banner composed his thoughts and slowly nodded. "I'm in."

Pepper's pulse quickened, and she began to feel lightheaded. 

"So," Rhodey said, scratching his jaw. 

"Where in the hell are we going to find an abandoned space ship."


	3. Countdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nebula watched him with careful concentration as he worked. She knew so little about Tony, but in some odd way, she felt connected to him, an intergalactic umbilicus bound to each of them, a tether, a truth that neither wanted to face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try (I repeat TRY) to keep up a daily posting schedule. I know there aren't a lot of you reading but still, finishing this fic is also for me, you know? I've got so much Marvel Angst™️ that I just need to get out of my system. But for those of you that are reading, enjoy this soft but angsty little chapter 💛

**Space - 20HRS Before Oxygen Runs Out**

Tony worked methodically, a practiced and steady hand removing random, unneeded parts from the ship and crafting them into something... else. He still hadn't completely clarified what it was they were making, but by the shape and relative size of the thing, Nebula had a pretty good idea of what it was. Equipped with small, pointed wings and a makeshift steering panel, it seemed that Tony was creating a scrappy two-man ship out of almost nothing. 

What should have felt rushed, the four hours that had passed since the two had started their work felt terribly long, as if the time couldn't pass by any quicker. The two hadn't talked, save the few words they'd exchanged hours before. It felt uncomfortable, a bubble of air where there shouldn't be. Nebula felt comfortable with him in a way she hadn't quite expected. She wanted to talk, to relate to the man. Nebula didn't do friends; friends died, and friends leave you. Morbid yes, but painfully true. But there was nothing in the rules of far away acquaintances that said you couldn't converse. 

She watched him with careful concentration as he worked. She knew so little about Tony, but in some odd way, she felt connected to him, an intergalactic umbilicus bound to each of them, a tether, a truth that neither wanted to face. Nebula set down her wrench and took a deep breath.

"So. You're from Earth."

Tony looked up at her, as if to say, _"Really?",_ but just smiled and nodded. "Yep, yeah. What about you?" A brief break in work, he set his goggles at the bridge of his nose and stopped welding. Nebula leaned back and forth on the flats of her hands. 

"Does it really matter?" Something in Tony deflated, and Neb picked up on it. "Sorry. Didn't have the best childhood." 

A brass laugh left the man, a smile on his face, not entirely happy. "Mood. Oh." His smile dropped. "Sorry. Been hanging around, around Peter too much." 

Peter. Goddamn, she hadn't meant to make Tony thinks about him. Not that she cared that much; she barely knew Tony. But she also knew what it was like to lose someone you loved. She had to distract him.

"So, what are you there?" She asked, hoping to peak his interest. He shambled to his helmet on the floor and picked it up, held it to his chest, and knocked and the frontal plate of the thing. 

"Iron Man." He set the hollow head, eyes dark, in front of her on the counter. Nebula studied it, ran her hands across it. "But this is-"

"Nikel-Titanium Alloy. I know." He interrupted. "But Nikel-Titanium-Alloy-Man wasn't as catchy." They stood in silence for a moment. Nebula thought, then perked up.

"What is it you do?"

"How do you mean?"

Nebula set a hand on the shiny metal surface.

"Iron Man. What does being Iron Man entail?"

Tony removed his goggles entirely and slid down the side wall to the cold floor. Nebula pulled herself up and sat crosslegged on the metal counter. 

"I save people. No, ah. I try to, at least." Something drained from the man's face. "Or maybe I just find new and creative ways to make things even worse." 

Another laugh, throatier, hollow. Tony's watery eyes glazed over. 

"See, because I think I'm doing the right thing? I follow in my father's footsteps because I think that that was what he wanted me to do, but if you really think about it, he wouldn't give a damn. He'd probably find a way to tell my I'm still doing it wrong."

He swallowed. "So I make my own impact. I get comfortable in my own shoes and stop walking in his. I make my own path. I become- _him_."  Pushing the helmet away, almost angry. "I become him, and that's supposed to make a change. But, no. No no. That's not enough. Because, to become him, I have to risk everything else. I risk Pepper and Peter and Cap and Banner and Thor and Rhodey and everyone. And by the time I do make an impact, it's," a wide gesture of the hands, then clenching fists, "All too late. Or I do it wrong and I'm right back where I started. Again. I make the mistakes. Again. Trying over and over to break a loop when maybe I'm the loop."

Nebula pretended not to notice the tears in his eyes. 

"So what does Iron Man do? One of earth's mightiest heroes. That's funny. Iron Man doesn't do nearly enough."

A dark quiet settled. Then,

"I doubt that."

Tony looked up, wiped the corners of his eyes. Smeared tears stuck in his unsmiling smile lines. 

"Excuse me?" Perhaps harsher than he'd intended. Nebula payed it no mind.

"You traveled all the way from Earth, right? To a planet you weren't familiar with. No certainty that you would make it back home. I watched you fight him. My father. Not once in my life have I ever seen that man bleed. I didn't think that he could. Believe me,  I've tried many a time to do that very thing and failed." 

She stopped and let Tony compose himself. 

"I'm not fond of admitting my weaknesses. I'm sure you aren't either. But Thanos was not afraid of me. Tony," she scooted of the counter, and kneeled in front of him. Placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I've never once seen fear in my father's eyes. Until he met you. So maybe, maybe Iron Man doesn't do enough. But what I know from the past few days with you, Tony, is that _you_ do. You don't need to be your father or some suit. You are Tony Stark."

It felt odd, to comfort someone with her words. Nebula wasn't usually one for the soft and emotional side of things. But she had to help him regain his confidence to get them home. And in some way, she enjoyed the feeling. Years and years of her father removing parts of her body and replacing them with machine. 

Nebula was taking something back from the man, after all he'd taken from her. Compassion.


	4. Saving the World (and the world is a Man)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You wouldn't be able to do half the things you do without Tony Stark. And we have the opportunity to save him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daily uploads are going good. I got my first bookmark on here! Thank you to the person that did that, I hope you're enjoying it! I'm really liking this so far. I've got some big plans. So, grab a cup of cocoa, snuggle under a comfy blanket, and procrastinate with me! :P

**Earth - 20HRS TILL OXYGEN RUNS OUT**

Pepper sat in a swivel chair, using her feet as leverage to spin from side to side. impatient, she drummed her fingers on her knees. She wondered if she should care that she wasn't dressed for this, for a professional meeting in a place filled with hoards of men in suits. And yet, saggy, stained v-neck adorned, she really couldn't give less of shit. Banner was wearing a green, short sleeved button up, the buttons of which, his sole focus, fidgeting with them nervously. Rhodey was gathering a small group of people, older men, mostly wrinkled and donned in ill-fitting suit jackets. When they caught her eye, beyond the glass doors that sealed the conference room shut, Pepper chided,

"Bruce." He looked up. "Leave the buttons alone." He looked down and nodded. 

"Sorry," he said, "I didn't even realize I was doing it." He shuffled to a seat across from her, his new nervous habit, running his hands over one another. Before Pepper could tell him to focus, Rhodey and the elderly men entered. Five of them, all at varying stages of salt-and-pepper hair. What seemed to be the leader of them all was a pale man the shape of a pear, who's face crumpled inward like a pumpkin in January. He cleared his throat and the rest of them sat in scattered spots around the table. 

"So," began the pumpkin man. "Shall we begin?" Pepper nearly rolled her eyes. They were not going to be overly dramatic and spend fragile time on a long and lingering conversation. _Shall we begin? Really? How fucking cliche_. She restrained herself from interrupting as Rhodey started informing the man of the situation.

"According to the timestamp of the videos sent, Tony has about twenty hours at this point. As I mentioned on the phone, Tony was wearing one of his suits when he left, and sent the message using the AI built into it. What that means is that we can track that signal with- Bruce, would you care to explain this part?"

Bruce looked up from twiddling his thumbs. "What's that?" he asked, distracted.

"We're talking about how we can track Tony's signal and-"

"Oh," interrupted Bruce. "That, yeah. See, Tony's much closer than he thinks he is. He's really only about two-hundred-and-fifty- ah, no, um, three-hundred and fifteen miles away, which is about seventy thousand miles farther than the moon. Give or take a few hundred miles. There have been crafts, unmanned crafts, but still space-crafts, that have taken just eight hours to get to the moon. With the tech we have right now, with the tech that shield has- the tech that you have, we could reach Tony in, ah, in about ten hours."

He stopped, waiting for a response.

"That's more than enough time. And it's not like the ships you have right now are being used. You've been silent ever since the War. All of shield has. But we, we could really use that ship."

The man contemplated. Pepper held her breath.

"And how do you know all that?" he asked, more curious that accusatory.

"We- I tracked the signal. The signal of his transmission."

The man nodded. 

"You're sure he's there?"

"Why wouldn't he be?!" Pepper yelled. "He sent it this morning. He sent this message, four hours ago. Why wouldn't he be there anymore?"

The man took a breath, glanced at Rhodey instead of the woman in front of him.

"Hey," said Pepper sharply, "You look at me. There is absolutely no reason we shouldn't get access to that ship. Without Tony, you wouldn't have had the tech to build it.  So, don't. Don't waste your time arguing on this. We need to save him. We _have_ to.  You owe him that, we all do. I do. After all he's done for us. Please." She was surprised to feel tears on her cheeks, burning in streaks down the sides of her face and nose. Rhodey, next to her, reached out and gripped her hand.

"She's right," added Rhodey. "You wouldn't be able to do half of the things you do without Tony Stark. And we have the opportunity to save him. We just need your help." He took a deep breath and looked the man directly in the eye. "Are we in agreement?"

~*~

Pepper shoved several potentially unnecessary items of clothing and nick knacks in a duffel bag. A glance at the helmet, the suit she'd taken from the compound. She smiled at it, her heart warm in knowing she'd be seeing the real thing soon. It felt entirely unreal; only yesterday, most of the world had no hope for Iron Man, the hero and legend. She'd never truly taken a liking to what Tony did as an Avenger. Yes, it was wonderful and heroic and it did make him a better person, but it was also incredibly dangerous. She'd thought, after the Mandarin, that he would finally settle down, and be comfortable with being Tony Stark. But he couldn't, and in many ways it had felt like a blow to the heart. She hadn't been enough for him. He had to save, he had to fix, he had to build and take 'precautions.' Since then, she'd accepted reality. Being Iron Man was part of who Tony was, and it would likely cost him his life some day. But not today. Today, he was going to be saved.

As she zipped her bag shut, a wave of nausea hit her like a tsunami. She clutched her mouth and ran for the nearest trashcan, heaving but producing nothing. She leaned back on her calves and retched again, vomiting this time. A kaleidoscope of multi-color blotches, echoes of sunlight burst behind her eyelids. When she was done, she wiped her post-throw up tears away, as well as the spit that stuck to her lips. Unsure of what exactly had caused the episode, Pepper cleared her throat and stood, shaking it off. 

Before leaving the room, she shot a look at the suit. "Sorry you had to see that," she said before closing the door behind her.

Shuffling down the stairs, her duffel bag knocking squarely in between her shoulder-blades, Pepper felt another round of nausea and prayed she didn't have the flu. Rhodey and Banner were waiting for her outside in a truck. She waved at them as she exited the building. "Just give me two seconds. Let me run to the convenient store." 

Banner shot her a look.

"You picking up scratches or something? Cause we're kind of on a tight schedule." Pepper glared. 

"I'll be two seconds."

~*~

Her hands were shaking. She didn't even care- although, perhaps she should have- that those hands were covered in her own urine. What she cared about with the goddamned plus sign. She grazed her thumb over the symbol, terrified but incredibly excited. She hadn't been feeling maternal, no, but the nausea had given her a clue. She took a deep breath, swallowed her fear, and washed the thing off before sticking it back in her duffel bag.

When she got to the truck, Bruce inspected her.

"What did you get?"

"Nothing," she said, quickly. "Just had to pee."

And to be fair, it hadn't been a lie.


	5. Reclaimed Machinery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the first time in god knows how long, Nebula felt entirely okay. Of course, that would never last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another double-chapter day. Having some fun with this but I don't want to rush it! Still, though, as always, enjoy and comment down below.

**Space - 8HRS TILL OXYGEN RUNS OUT**

"What is hope to you?"

Back to cold metal, Nebula inhaled deeply and thought.  _There is hope in death. Yes, death can be hopeful_.

Because, while it may sound depressing, that statement is true for all living creatures. There is hope in the morbidity of the sentient species. All living things must die at one point or another, and in being aware, we can never truly die. Energy is pure and simply cannot be destroyed. Whether there was an afterlife or not, life was completely and totally unending. Even death could not block out the sun.

A slight glance at Tony, and she reconsidered. Tony wasn't looking for reality, now. Everything around them- the vast tapestry of drifting stars, the hum and drone of the engines vibrating under their bodies- Tony wanted something to get him through, to string him along. And so, she answered honestly.

"I'm not sure. What about you?"

Tony pondered this, and Nebula noticed the glint of something far off in his eyes.

"I think hope is," he swallowed, "Hope is when we get to go home. And the spaces in between. _Space_ in between." He giggled. "I made a funny." Nebula didn't get it and wasn't laughing, but nodded as if she understood. 

"What is hopeful about this?" she inquired, taking in her surroundings. It was dark, cold. She was starving and she knew he was too. They were facing a terrifying end if they didn't book it out of that damn ship as soon as possible. Tony just smiled, a sweetly dark thought at the tip of his tongue.

"Because we get to win, even if we die."

"We didn't win. You saw what happened. We lost."

Tony bit his lip, searching for the right words.

"But we come out on top. That's what we do, right? That's what we're _supposed_ to do. You said it yourself, I'm Tony Motherfucking Stark-"

"I only said Tony Stark."

Tony sat up and shot her a look. "Maybe so, but the intent was there. You, well you're Nebula... I'm sorry, what's your last name?"

"I don't have one."

"Well," he concluded, "You're Nebula. Nebby. Robo Chick."

"Don't call me Nebby or Robo-Chick."

Tony nodded. "Dually noted." He licked his lower lip, bit the corner of his tongue. "Anyway. We do things that others will never be able to do. We fight the battles that others never could." Another, far off glint. Perhaps, a memory. "You know who said that?" he asked, and Nebula shook her head. "Nick Fury. Not the, um, perfect person in my experience. Sometimes he was a real asshole and he only had one eye, you know, so I never really knew where to look when I was talking to him. But that's beside the point. He brought us together- Me, Cap, Clint, Nat, Banner, Thor. Brought some of the strongest people together, just to keep our planet safe." He let out a shaky exhale and nodded.

"I used to have dreams, you know? About how it would end. How I would make it, and everyone else would die. Not this time. I will personally hand myself over to the giant purple back of dicks that raised you if it means every single person I care about is safe. And doing that, means we finish this shit. I'm not letting a single other person get hurt because I was too weak to protect them."

Almost absent-mindedly, Tony brushed his hands against each other- imaginary dust, Peter's dust, irritating his skin. He stood, walked to the counter, and grabbed his goggles. 

"So," he said, placing them squarely over his eyes. "You ready?"

~*~

**2HRS REMAINING**

Sweaty and tired, both Nebula and Tony retreated from inside the the scrappy aircraft. It was small, no doubt, but large enough to carry them both for at least a few thousand miles. They sat, backs pressed against the vehicle.

"Where are we going to go?" she asked, shattering a wall that Tony wasn't ready to live without. They had made absolutely no plans whatsoever what they would do once the craft was finished. Tony sighed. "I don't know. I really don't." he confirmed. "You're from space," he began. Nebula looked at him blankly.

"Yes, we've been over that fact. But to be fair, so are you. Earth is in space."

"That's beside the point. Do you know any good, oxygen rich establishments?"

Nebula rolled her eyes. "It's not like we're going out to eat."

"I thought I told you not to mention food." His stomach growled. "See? What did I say. Don't mention food until we get somewhere that has it."

Nebula laughed, but stopped herself. "That's absolutely not funny," she said matter-of-factly. "Do you have any maps with you? Some kind of GPS?"

Tony mock-searched his pockets and sighed. 

"Dammit, I left my google maps at home. Same for my space GPS."

Nebula punched his shoulder and he recoiled, then laughed. The sound of his own laugh was enough to start Nebula into a coughing fit; so incredibly joyous. The feeling was so foreign to her, and likely to Tony, who nearly had tears in his eyes from the constant chuckling. She placed a hand on his shoulder in an effort to get him to stop.

"Wait-" she said, still tittering, "Wait. This isn't hypoxia, right?" Tony laughed even harder, falling on to her shoulder. "No sweetheart, this is pent-up trauma."

They calmed a bit, and for the first time in god knows how long, Nebula felt entirely okay. Of course, that would never last. Happiness always lead down a road of heartbreak. She wasn't quite ready to let that go.  But time was short, and she steadied herself.

"I have heard of a place. A weird-ass place, but for all I know, you might like it. It's called Sakaar."

 

 


	6. Reclaimed Machinery Pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I don't want to be alone," he whimpered.  
> But he had no choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed a little bit of fluff in the last chapter- it's the last pure thing you're gonna see for a while. Sorry bros. Hope you're enjoying the fic!

**SPACE - 2HRS REMAINING**

“Sakaar?” Tony asked, repeating it silently several times more. “I swear I've heard of it.” Nebula raised her eyebrows. “Believe me,” Nebula noted, “if you'd been there, you'd remember it.” Tony brushed it off as Nebula continued. “It's certainly not a tourist destination.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “It could be a damn warzone for all I care. If it has Oxygen, water, food, and gravity? We're good.” Nebula nodded hesitantly. “Whatever you say.”

“How far away is it? Do you know?” Stark asked as Nebula brushed past him. She walked past, searching the corners for something. “They had some sort of device. I tried to contact Mantis- there was a screen, a tablet. Something.” Tony's eyes deepened, rounded.

“And you’re telling me this now?” Nebula glanced at him and shrugged. "I forgot." Tony, dumbfounded, shook his head. "You forgot a potentially life saving device- you even asked me if I had one!" 

"Yeah," she shouted, searching for the device. "Like I said, I forgot." Tony pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay. Okay. I'm just going to. Agh." He groaned. "I'm just going to forget about that."

"Here!" Nebula grinned, inspecting the mounted tablet on the wall. "They used this to communicate."

Tony perked up. "They?"

Nebula brushed dust off the screen. "Quill. Rocket. Drax. Mantis." She paused, looked at him. "Gamora. My sister." Tony tried not to look her in the eye. Loss, he was terribly familiar with the feeling. 

"I'm sorry, about that." He added, crossing his fingers that she wouldn't want to talk about it. He couldn't bear thinking about his own family, all the things he'd had and didn't anymore. 

"We weren't close," she said quietly, detaching the tablet and taking it slowly to the Tony's makeshift craft. "We fought a lot. A lot."

Tony nodded. "I never had any siblings but, ah, I've heard that's something they do." Nebula sat in front of the graft, turning the tablet on, waiting for the screen to load. "We didn't choose to fight," she muttered. "Our father made us."

"Oh." He pondered. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she laughed, bitter and dark. "He's gone, and so is she, so it's not my problem anymore."

Tony inwardly laughed, and Nebula cocked her head.

"Is that funny?" She questioned. Tony shook his head and tried not to smile.

"No, no, it's just that- well, he was your dad and he was Thanos. Did you call him Thaddy?" He cackled. Nebula wasn't laugjing.

"I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that."

~*~

"How do we start it?" Asked Nebula, sitting against the vehicle. She twiddled with the control panel.  

Tony tapped his chest, the arc reactor gleaming. "Power it just like I power the suits." 

Nebula's brow furrowed at the screen in her hand. "Sakaar is a good distance away- a good four or five hours. Are you sure you can power a machine this size for that long?" 

Tony swallowed. "Let's hope so." 

Nebula stood, tapped on the arc reactor with her index finger. "This? This isn't large enough to power the ship." She took a deep breath, scratched her neck. "We'd never make it."

Tony guffawed. "We could try? Why are you giving up?"

Nebula sat back down and closed her eyes.

"I'm not giving up. But you'd never be able to hold us both in that ship with _that_ thing."

Tony's breath caught in his throat. "I can't do this on my own, Neb. I can power it for the two of us."

"You'd never hold the weight," she said, and his heart sank. "We can't both go."

"Bullshit!" He yelled, voice shaking and tearful. "Don't you do this."

"We can't, Tony. And what if you need to fight? Your suit is damaged." She took a deep breath and swallowed. She was shocked to feel tears in her eyes. She hadn't cried since she was a child. 

"We were never both going to make it, were we?" She whispered. Tony's chin quivered, and he bit his lip in an effort to stop the emotion from rising too high.

"Please don't do this," he said, barely audible. Nebula stood, hugged him. He was so soft, so warm. She wanted to hold him, like a child. To comfort and console him. The damn guy had softened her up. 

"I've truly enjoyed this time with you, Tony," she said, a small, soft laugh producing two shiny tears on her cheeks. "Even if that sounds preposterous." 

Tony breathed deeply, trying to swallow his tears. "Neb. Don't." She let him go, backed up a bit. 

"I have an idea." She said, more stern, more like herself. "Come with me." 

She lead him to the back of the ship, where his broken helmet lay, and turned to him. "Use me for parts," she said, entirely serious. "Use me for parts." 

Tony backed away from her, letting the tears flow freely now.

"No. What the fuck? No."

Nebula ignored him and jerked a blueish-silver plate of her own skin from her forearm, and bit down and her young from the pain.

"Take it," she said, her voice shaking with agony. "Take it, please." She shoved it at him, at his chest, tried to place it in his hand. It dropped and clanged on the floor. Next, was a sliver of her chin. The removal of the metal left several bronze wires exposed. "Tony! Use me for parts! Parts for the ship, for your suit!"

"No!" He yelled, recoiling as she took off more and more of herself. "Stop it Nebula! Stop!"

She stopped for just a moment, sobbing from the pain.

"All my life, people have taken from me. Have robbed me of anything I'd ever had. Never asked me if I wanted to contribute. But now? Tony, I can give you something. Something that can save you. All my life, people take and take and take and now? I actually have something to give." She ripped off her deltoid, sending sparks from exposed wires onto the floor of the ship. She extended the piece, arm shaking.

"Please." She gasped. "There is a wire plugged into a port in the back of my scull, under the occipital plate. Pull it and I'll be gone. I'll be gone and I wont feel a thing and you can use it. Use all of me. I want you to live, Tony."

"I can't!" He sobbed, falling against the wall. "I can't do that, Neb, you have to know that. I keep losing everyone. Everyone. I want you to be able to win this, Neb. Please." 

She writhed on the floor, and looked at him, her eyes pleading. "Your loss is mine, Stark. That means your win is my own as well. So if you lose this- if you die- then I die too. So you take this- these- parts of me," the sound of metal, falling to the floor- her wrist, "and you make something better." 

Like an animal shot, wishing for death, she cowered. "Take these broken pieces and make them new again." 

Tony couldn't take it anymore. She was miserable, shaking, entirely exposed. 

"It's just a wire, Tony. Just one pull and I'll be gone." 

He kneeled against her and held her tightly, an embrace he would remember forever. His forehead against hers, Tony reached around to the back of her head and felt for the plate. Once it was off, he gripped the wire, holding her tighter as he tugged it and set her free. 

Nebula completely relaxed, and went limp in his arms. He held her like a child in his lap, rocking her back and forth, sobbing. 

"I don't want to be alone," he whimpered.

But he had no choice.


End file.
